Computerized system and method of organizing billiards competitions

ABSTRACT

The present invention is a computerized system and method of organizing participants in billiards competitions. Specifically, the computerized system and method does the scheduling, tracking and scoring of the participants in billiards competitions. The computerized system utilizes client server technology over a computerized network such as the Internet, with a relational database and a database management system. The method utilizes a scheduling system for scheduling participants in billiards competitions, a handicap system for allowing participants of all skill levels to competitively participate with each other and a point system for measuring participant performance in billiards competitions. The method of utilizing the scheduling system, the handicap system and the point system is integrated into the computerized system.

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 61/046,793 filed 21 Apr. 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD & BACKGROUND

The present invention generally relates to a computerized system and method of organizing participants in billiards competitions. More specifically, the invention is a computerized system and method for organizing participants in 9-ball billiards competitions.

It is an object of the invention to make it possible for an unlimited number of participants in billiards competitions to compete anywhere in the world.

It is also an object of the invention for participants in billiards competitions to compete against each other in real-time within the same schedule without having to travel great distances or having the burden of large expenses for travelling, accommodations and other expenses.

It is also an object of the invention to allow participants in billiards competitions of different skill levels to competitively participate amongst each other and help reduce the possibility of sandbagging or cheating.

It is also an object of the invention to allow participants to have more choice of who, where and when to participate in a billiards competition.

What participants and organizers of billiards competitions really need is a system and method to better schedule, track and score participants in billiards competitions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described by way of exemplary embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the system architecture of the computerized system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 lists the steps of the overall method, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 lists general information about the scheduling system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 a illustrates a table and outline of the handicap system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 b illustrates a table of a minimum average for each opponent's handicap levels, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 a-e illustrate a table for multiplying factor numbers and scores, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 a-q illustrate a table for a point system table with multiplying factor numbers, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the present invention, however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

The phrase “in one embodiment” is used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment, however, it may. The terms “comprising”, “having” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise.

The present invention generally relates to a computerized system and method of organizing participants in billiards competitions 10. Billiards competitions are competitions any of several games played on a rectangular cloth-covered table (with cushioned edges) in which long tapering cue sticks are used to propel ivory or composition balls. These billiards competitions can also include 8-ball, 9-ball, snooker and bumper pool competitions. More specifically, the invention is a computerized system and method for organizing participants in 9-ball billiards competitions, although other embodiments can also include 8-ball, snooker and bumper pool competitions.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture of the computerized system utilized in the computerized system and method 10. The computerized system 20 is comprised of a client computer 30, a server computer 40 and a computer based network 50 for both the client computer 30 and the server computer 40 to communicate and exchange electronic based information. The server computer 40 also has a relational database 60 for storing said electronic based information with a database management system 70 for managing the relational database 60. The client computer 30 is typically a personal computer and the computer based network 50 used is typically the Internet, although both are not limited to a personal computer and the Internet. The computerized system 20 utilizes typical client-server technology that is well-known to those skilled in the art.

FIG. 2 outlines the steps of a method of scheduling, scoring and tracking participants in billiards competitions 100 used in the computerized system and method 10. These include utilizing a scheduling system for scheduling participants in billiards competitions 110, utilizing a handicap system for allowing participants of all skill levels to competitively participate in billiards competitions 120 and utilizing a point system for measuring participant performance in billiards competitions 130.

FIG. 3 lists general information about utilizing the scheduling system 110. There are two types of challenges 200, an outbound challenge 201 in which the participant sends a challenge with the date, time of day and pool hall venue. The second type of challenge is an inbound challenge 202 in which the participant is the recipient of a challenge. It's up to the recipient of a challenge to accept it or decline it. Participants have three days to accept a challenge or it is automatically declined. Participants may have up to 3 outbound challenges at a time and a total of 12 challenges in all. A participant may not have more challenges than the number of matches left to be played. Twelve matches are played per session. When a challenge is accepted a match is created. Participants have two days after the match is played to enter the scores. If the match is not entered after two days it becomes a contested match. A match also becomes a contested match if the scores do not match. Participants have a score sheet which they print out for the match. Each participant records their match score and signs it. One copy goes to each participant and the third copy is left with the pool hall. Either participant may have the pool hall administrator adjust the scores according to the score sheets.

Each pool hall will be assigned one of five possible statuses 210. The first status is a vacant pool hall 211, which is a pool hall with no participants that have this pool hall selected as their home hall. Vacant pool halls 211 are available to be selected as home pool halls but serve no other purpose. The second status is an inactive pool hall 212, which is a pool hall with no active or pending participants that have selected the pool hall as their home hall. Inactive pool halls 212 may contain participants but those participants have not joined the current session. The third status is a pending pool hall 213, which is a pool hall with less than 10 active or pending participants that have selected this pool hall as their home hall. Pending pool halls 213 may contain active participants that can make challenges but the matches may not be played at pending pool halls 213. For this reason home participants belonging to a pending pool hall 213 may not challenge other home participants belonging to other pending pool halls 213. The fourth status is an active pool hall 214, which is a pool hall with 10 or more active or pending participants selected as their home hall. All matches are played at an active pool hall. Active participants belonging to an active pool hall 214 can make challenges and resulting matches that may be played at their active home pool hall subject to other EPT constraints. Note that active pool halls 214 must have an active home pool hall administrator. The fifth status is an EPT pool hall 215, which is a pool hall with 30 or more active participants with this pool hall selected as their home hall. Active participants belonging to an EPT pool hall 215 can make challenges and resulting matches that may be played at their EPT pool hall 215 subject to other EPT constraints. Note also that EPT pool halls 215 must have an active home pool hall administrator.

Each participant will be assigned one of four possible statuses 220. The first status is a vacant participant 221, which is a participant that has registered in a previous year but is not registered in the current year. The second status is an inactive participant 222, which is a participant that is registered in the current year but has not enrolled in the current session. The third status is a pending participant 223, which is a participant that has enrolled in the current session, but does not have an EPT pool hall 215 on their preferred pool hall list. The fourth status is an active participant 224 that is enrolled in the current session and has an EPT pool hall 215 on their preferred pool hall list.

FIG. 4 a illustrates a table and outline of the handicap system. The number of games each handicap level 300 needs to win in order to win a match is indicated by the single numbers 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 310 or by two hyphened numbers on the table 320. The smaller number refers to the lower ranked participant. The +9B, +8B, +7B and +6B 330 indicates which extra winning balls the lower ranked participant has to sink to win the match. If it's a +6B ball, this means the winning balls are the 6, 7, 8 and 9 ball. If it's a +7B ball, then the winning balls are the 7, 8 and 9 and for a +8B ball, then the winning balls are the 8 and 9.

In looking at FIG. 4 a, when a handicap level 3 (B21) plays another handicap level 3 (A23), they both are racing to be the first to win 7 games. The first participant to win 7 games wins the match. When a handicap level 4 (C21) plays a handicap level 3 (A23), the handicap level 3 needs to win 6 games to win the match and the handicap level 4 needs to win 8 games to win the match as indicated by the 6−8 +9B. The +9B means both participants only have the nine ball for their winning balls. When a handicap level 6 (E21) plays a handicap level 300 3 (A23), the handicap level 3 needs to win 6 games to win the match and the handicap level 6 needs to win 8 games to win the match as indicated by the 6−8 +8B. The +8B means the lower ranked participant, handicap level 3 has the 8 ball and the nine ball for his or her winning balls. The handicap level 6 only has the nine ball for his or her winning balls. Extra winning balls are only given to the lower ranked participants of a match when indicated.

FIG. 4 b illustrates a table of a minimum average for each opponent's handicap levels 300 at the end of 12 weeks (9 out of 12 matches). Participants must play a minimum average for each of their opponent's handicap levels 300s. For example, 12's must play an average of a 7.5 handicap, meaning they could play six 7's and six 8's which average out to 7.5. However the 12's could not play seven 7's and five 8's because this only totals 7.42.

FIG. 5 a-e illustrate a table for multiplying factor numbers (MF#) 400 and score 410 and FIG. 6 a-q illustrate a point system table with MF# 400. Both are important figures for the point system because of its unique 4 decimal and 5 decimal MF# 400. Without the score 410 and MF# 400 there would be too many ties and therefore too difficult to determine winners. By determining the winners by a weekly score, this eliminates the reason for any playoffs. With this format in place, the billiards competition can have an unlimited number of participants playing any where, any time in the world. There are four 12 week sessions played per year. The first three sessions are played in, for participants to win money plus to qualify for the “Big Money 4^(th) session”. Half the money of the four regular sessions goes into the “Big Money 4^(th) session”. In the fourth session about half the participants will have qualified to play for the “Big Money 4^(th) session” and the other half will play for the “Regular Money 4^(th) session”. At the end of every 12 week session, the winners are determined by their total weekly points. By using participant's weekly points, this eliminates having to get all the participants together to play to determine the winners. Also the MF# 400 is used to allow this point system to eliminate too many ties, to help prevent participants from cheating the system and to encourage participants to play their best at all times. The scheduling system allows participants to match themselves up to an opponent closest to their preference of skill level. It also allows the participants more variety and choice of when and where to play their matches.

In the fourth session, qualifying participants play for the “Big Money 4^(th) session” while the other participants play for the “Regular Money 4^(th) session”. All participants still play amongst each other just like any other 12 week session. The only difference is about half will be playing for the “Big Money 4^(th) session” and the other half will be playing for the “Regular Money 4^(th) session”. This also gives more participants a fair and better chance of winning prize money because the stronger participants will be playing for the “Big Money 4^(th) session” leaving the rest of the participants to play for the “Regular Money 4^(th) session” of which there are only half as many participants as usual.

In each match a participant will earn anywhere from a minimum of 75 points to a maximum of 150 points. For example, if one participant won all the games and the score was 8-0 then the winning participant would get 150 points and the losing participant would get 75 points. By just showing up a participant will earn no less than 75 points. Depending on what the two participants' handicap levels 300 are, they will each have a number of games to win or race to in order to win the match. The winner will receive a certain number of points somewhere from 120 to 150 depending on how many games they lost. The losing participant will receive a certain number of points somewhere from 75 to 115 depending on how many games they won.

Anywhere from 6 to 11 games will need to be won by either participant depending on what caliber of participant or handicap level 300 they are. This is the range of games needed to be won to win a match. There is also more than one winning ball given to some participants depending on the handicap spread. This is explained in FIG. 4 a. Each participant is given a range of points they can earn. I say earn and not win because even a losing participant with no wins will receive points. Depending on both participant's handicap levels 300 and the spread or difference of the two, FIG. 4 a will determine how many games each participant needs to win in order to win the match. Also, for each handicap point spread of both participants, the maximum and minimum points available will be lowered and raised by 2 points. That is the maximum points of 150 points will be lowered by 2 points for every handicap level 300 difference of the two participants and the minimum points of 75 points will be raised by 2 points for every handicap level 300 difference of the two participants. For example, if a 3 were playing a 4 then the maximum points would start at 148 and the minimum points would start at 77 points instead of 150 to 75. If a 3 were playing a 5 then it would be from 146 to 79. If a 3 were playing a 12 then (12-3=9) is the spread, (9×2=18) is the two points per spread difference, (150−18=132) and (75+18 =93) then it would be 132 to 93.

There are 5 factors to consider when calculating each participant's points for the point system. The factors are both participants' handicap level 300, the two participants' handicap spread difference, the total games each participant needs to win to win the match or in billiard terms, the MF# 400 and the participant's best midrange scores then expanding outward alternating back and forth from left side then to right side.

Both participants' handicap level 300 and the difference between the two participant's handicap levels will determine how many games either participant needs to win in order to win the match. For each handicap point spread of both participants, each participant will add 2 points to his or her bottom end of their points table on the losing side and subtract 2 points from his or her top end of their points table on the winning side. For example, if a 3 were playing a 4 then the two participant's points table would be from 115 to 77 on the losing side instead of 115 to 75 and 148 to 120 on the winning side instead of 150 to 120. If a 3 were playing a 5 then it would be from 115 to 79 and 146 to 120. If a 3 were playing a 12 then (12−3=9), (9×2=18), (75+18=93) and (150−18=132) then it would be 115 to 93 and 132 to 120. The number of games needed to be won for any particular match is between 6 and 11. Therefore, the point range for a participant needing to win 6 games will be determined by 2 factors. One will be the spread difference, giving the participant their minimum and maximum available points and the second will be the number of games which will determine the number of point values in an equal sequential order in between these two ranges of top and bottom point values. The MF# 400 will eliminate the vast number of ties, give value to every single game of each match, eliminate participants from throwing games and cause participants to play their best at all times.

There are two MF# 400s used. The first one is a five decimal number ranging from 1.01250 to 1.05000. This one is used to eliminate the possibility of many participants tying. In the four regular sessions, points from each match have this corresponding MF# 400 which is multiplied together to get that matches final points. The second MF# 400 is a four decimal number ranging from 1.1250 to 1.5000. This one is used to make every match count, to stop the sandbagging and cheating, and to give extra reason for participants to play their best at all times. This second MF# 400 is the result of the first MF# 400, then multiplying it by 10 and subtracting 9 to get an MF# 400 with more weight. This larger MF# 400 is used by participants who have qualified for the final “Big Money 4^(th) session” purse. The “Big Money 4^(th) Session” doesn't use a corresponding MF# 400 through the session but uses the original point values and multiplies this number by the larger MF# 400 at the end of each match. When calculating the participants' best points, each participant's matches are put in order from their best to their lowest point values. Then the points of the best 6 midrange matches are totaled for each participant. The participants who have tied will then include their next top midrange match. Any participants who tie after that will then include their bottom midrange match. Any ties after that, the same format will continue from left to right until all ties are eliminated.

While the present invention has been related in terms of the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described. The present invention can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Thus, the description is to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on the present invention. 

1. A computerized system for scheduling, tracking and scoring participants in billiards competitions, comprising: a client computer, a server computer, a computer based network for both said client computer and said server computer to communicate and exchange electronic based information with each other, a relational database for storing said electronic based information integrated within said server computer, and a database management system for managing said relational database.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said client computer is a personal computer.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said computer based network is the Internet.
 4. A method of scheduling, scoring and tracking participants in billiards competitions, comprising: utilizing a scheduling system for scheduling said participants in said billiards competitions, utilizing a handicap system for allowing said participants of all skill levels to competitively participate in said billiards competitions, and utilizing a point system for measuring said participants performance in said billiards competitions.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said scheduling system allows said participants to send an outbound challenge with the date, time of day and pool hall venue.
 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein said scheduling system allows said participants to receive an inbound challenge from said outbound challenge.
 7. The method according to claim 4, wherein a pool hall venue has a vacant, an inactive, a pending, an active or a EPT pool hall status.
 8. The method according to claim 4, wherein said participants have a vacant, an inactive, a pending or an active status.
 9. The method according to claim 4, wherein said handicap system assigns a numeric handicap level to said participants.
 10. The method according to claim 4, wherein said handicap system indicates a number of games each said numeric handicap level of said participant needs to win in order to win a match.
 11. The method according to claim 4, wherein said handicap system utilizes a handicap spread difference.
 12. The method according to claim 4, wherein said handicap system utilizes a multiplying factor number.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said multiplying factor number corresponds to a score.
 14. The method according to claim 4, wherein said handicap system utilizes a minimum average for each said participant's opponents.
 15. The method according to claim 4, wherein said point system utilizes said participants points for match and said multiplying factor number to determine said participants total match points.
 16. The method according to claim 4, wherein said participants best midrange scores are utilized to eliminate ties between said participants.
 17. The method according to claim 4, wherein said participants can submit and verify payments to play in said billiards competitions. 